'Colour Etude I' is the first in a series of pieces exploring the strict application of certain spectral techniques influenced by the research of William Sethares, while keeping all parameters except for harmony very simple. These pieces function as a means to test harmonic concepts, and to create more accessible examples of microtonal and spectral music by leaving most aspects of the piece uncomplicated; the form of the piece is essentially theme and variation. An 11-partial waveform was generated in Supercollider using random numbers for the partial frequencies and amplitudes, which were then tweaked to taste. The entire piece uses instances of waveforms with these same ratios between the frequencies of their 11 partials - i.e. exact transpositions of the same waveform. In a particular 'key', only notes whose fundamental frequencies occur in the spectrum of the 'tonic' can be used, leading to a series of 11-pitch sets which modulate between each other via common pitches.
11-pitch set; where f is the fundamental frequency of the 'tonic' of a given section, the relative frequencies of the pitches in the set to the nearest two decimal places are: f, 1.87f, 1.97f, 2.10f, 3.20f, 3.40f, 5.24f, 7.00f, 8.61f, 8.92f, 9.97f.
Omar is a composer, performer, choral director and software developer based in London. He holds an MA in composition & acoustics research from the University of York. Omar has studied in London with Sinan Savaşkan and in York with Thomas Simaku, Roger Marsh, Martin Suckling and Ambrose Field. His work has been performed in the UK, USA, Brazil, Italy, South Korea, Japan, Cyprus and Taiwan, featuring in festivals such as SMC, NYCEMF, Leeds iFIMPaC, soundSCAPE New Music Festival, Roundhouse Rising, ISSTA Festival & Conference, MUSLAB International Festival of Electroacoustic Music and the Joint WOCMAT-IRCAM Forum Conference. Besides composing, Omar also directs and performs for London-based vocal ensemble, Vox London Collective. He has performed alongside popular musicians such as Jamie Cullum and Angelique Kidjo, at events including the BBC Proms, EFG London Jazz Festival and BBC Radio 2 Folk Music Awards.